brooklyn

Titus Andronicus-6/21/19 at Rough Trade, Brooklyn, NY

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

Jack White was in the building earlier that day.  On a day when The Raconteurs put out their first album in over ten years, the band played a small in-store that afternoon at Rough Trade in Brooklyn-the first of three intimate NY shows for the band.  The Raconteurs would go onto play Rough Trade Saturday night and Coney Island Baby Sunday afternoon.  Jack White exists within a realm that few working rock musicians do; Dave Grohl is probably his only true contemporary.  This is all to say that these 200-250 cap rooms are a rarity for someone of Jack White’s stature to perform in.  He’s a rockstar in the truest definition of the word, which is very different from how someone would perceived Titus Andronicus who headlined Rough Trade on Friday Night for the release show for their new record An Obelisk.

 

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The National-I Am Easy to Find

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

Sometimes, I tend to forget that the guys in The National are both thoughtful and innovative musicians.  Despite being a group that shifted the sound of indie rock, it’s easy to think they’ve mostly done the same thing on every album.  I Am Easy to Find is the first album since Alligator that feels like a significant shift for The National, and it’s a really grand thing. Continue reading →

Insignificant Other-i’m so glad i feel this way about you

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

If you were a tumblr user and fan of bands like The Front Bottoms and TWIABP in 2015, it’s near impossible to not have heard of Insignificant Other.  Lead vocalist and songwriter, Sim Morales has been releasing covers with some originals via bandcamp for last half of the decade, but the recent release of i’m so glad i feel this way about you paints a picture of a triumphant pop-punk band with a Brooklyn-sensibility despite their Alabama by way of Gainesville location. Continue reading →

STS: Bigg Mozz

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

Savor the Season is a new column from Burger-A-Day where writers discuss seasonal favorites.  Today, we’re breaking down mozzarella sticks that we found in Bryant Park.

Mozzarella sticks are a food for drunk people and children.  If you’re sober and order mozzarella sticks, you’re trying to recapture some childlike sense of wonder or the emotions of being borderline blacked out at a dollar slice pizzeria.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with this.  Mozzarella sticks are a simple pleasure that the appetizer gods have bestowed upon us mere mortals.  Big Mozz captures that and only that. Continue reading →

Imperfect Attempt: The Killers-Barclays Center, NY-1/9/18

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

killers-brooklyn

After the first two songs of The Killers’ set on their Wonderful Wonderful tour, frontman Brandon Flowers quotes Evil Knievel: “People don’t pay for the perfect landing; they pay for the attempt.”  Unlike Knievel, The Killers don’t land as much as they attempt, and their performance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center left me wondering if I’d pay for another attempt. Continue reading →

Strung Out, But Experienced:The Hold Steady-Brooklyn Bowl, 12/2/17

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

hold-steady-massive-nights

The best bands are never satiated by just playing their old music, but the best of the best also really enjoy playing their old songs alongside new ones.  This past weekend at Brooklyn Bowl, The Hold Steady’s “Massive Nights” showed that Craig Finn and company are amongst the best of the best.  Where last year’s shows were strictly a birthday celebration for Boys and Girls in America, these shows were a little more rounded, and the band also had a pair of new songs to feed to a rabid fanbase.  Frank Turner was just the cherry to top it off. Continue reading →

LCD Soundsystem-American Dream

/ James P. Crowley / 1 Comment

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More often than not, when I don’t like something that I know is good (or everyone else likes), I tend to just say, “It wasn’t for me.”  That is to say, I wasn’t the target-demographic.  I said this about the Beauty and the Beast remake, Twenty-One Pilots, Serial, and countless other things that I didn’t really like.  I didn’t begin listening to LCD Soundsystem until after they’d broken up, and I was excited to see them reunite.  While I understand why fans were angry about their reunion, I could care less to be honest.  That being said, American Dream doesn’t seem like it was for me.  It seems catered to a certain subsect of fans that probably don’t mind that LCD reunited as opposed to feeling more indifferent about it.  Still, even if it wasn’t for me, American Dream is an incredible album that I thoroughly enjoy. Continue reading →

Waxahatchee-Out In The Storm

/ James P. Crowley / 1 Comment

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John Darnielle made a name for himself recording simple songs into a boombox, mostly by himself, some people say that the Mountain Goats lost their touch once Darnielle brought in the rest of the band and began recording more polished albums.  Any good Mountain Goats fan knows that the band has only improved as they’ve gotten older, then why did I apply the former philosophy to Waxahatchee?  Katie Crutchfield’s debut album American Weekend was such a masterpiece that I ignored the following two albums, until Out In The Storm, which captures the lyrical essence of Waxahatchee, with wider, warmer production. Continue reading →

Diet Cig-Swear I’m Good at This

/ James P. Crowley / 2 Comments

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I want to tell you about my friend Josh.  Josh is the sweetest person you’ll ever meet.  He can brighten anyone’s day by simply entering the room.  Josh is hilarious and can take his energy level from 0-100 in seconds.  I feel like most people who know Josh just tend to latch onto the chaotic energy he brings, but Josh can also be one of the kindest, most caring people when he needs to be.  That being said, he can bounce back from those serious moments in a heartbeat.  It’s for this reason that Diet Cig reminds me of Josh. Continue reading →

XXYYXX: Live at Warsaw (Brooklyn, NY 2/15/17)

/ ninamascheroni / Leave a comment

warsaw

One of my favorite songs by The Wombats is “Techno Fan” and while they were not playing, nor were involved in this show in any way, this is the song I had stuck in my head all day before the show. “Techno Fan” tells the story of a guy who goes to a techno show, without knowing the music beforehand, with a girl he’s into and how being in the right place with the right person makes him a fan. Continue reading →